Monday, June 4, 2007

Having summer finally here is the biggest breath of fresh air I have experienced in a while. I haven't had much opportunity to design in the kind of environment I would like to. I did just get through 3 decent shows, but not the kind of designs that I live for.

The first one was Topdog/Underdog, by Susan Lori-Parks. Great show, but was performed at the Ladies' Literary Club in Salt Lake City. The stage was like a stake center, not much to work with. I ended up lighting the whole show with 3 1k fresnels and 2 source fours. I ran the show off of regular wall mount dimmer switches that had been mounted in individual boxes. For what I had to work with I feel really good about the result.

The second show was the Orem Dance Company Spring Concert Weekend. It was my favorite of the 3. I had the Orem High School auditorium and 88 dimmers to work with. I had some incredible looks. The most rewarding part for me was a gasp from the audience when the lighting came up on one of the numbers. Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture that number well with my camera, but I still got a lot of excellent pictures for my portfolio. This was my 3rd year with ODC. The director, Hollie Bulkley, is amazing to work with and really gives me a lot of freedom.

The last show was the hardest. It was the American Fork High School Ballroom Dance Company Winter Concert In His Arms. Because of scheduling conflicts with the auditorium I got almost no time in the space. I had a very limited inventory, and almost no tech time to write cues. It was just one of those where things don't go your way. I love this team though, I have been able to work with them on and off for the last couple of years.

Now I am in my summer season. No shows scheduled until The Diary of Anne Frank at the University of Utah's Babcock Theatre in the fall, followed by Shakespeare's Winter's Tale. I am looking forward to these two shows. I haven't had a regular stage production since Prelude to a Kiss last fall. The adaptation of Anne Frank that we are doing is great too.

Summer plans include a backpacking trip with my uncle through Grand Gulch this weekend. I am excited for this 28 mile trail. I haven't been on a real backpacking trip in quite a while. We also hope to go watch Little Wild Horse Canyon flood out during a rainstorm sometime in August. Hopefully we will get to videotape it.